Burgess COMMENTARY

Peter Burgess

Starbucks pulls plug on Ethos water bottling in drought-stricken California

In a PR win, Starbucks has prompted the state's first-ever mandatory cuts in water use.

Starbucks has pulled off something of a PR win by announcing plans to stop bottling its Ethos brand water in California, which is in the fourth year of a serious drought that has prompted the state's first-ever mandatory cuts in water use.

Starting this month and for the next six months, the coffee shop giant said it will move production over to the East coast in Pennsylvania. It is also looking for a new source and supplier for its West Coast Ethos water distribution.

The move follows a ‘Mother Jones’ magazine expose that pointed to the face that Ethos – the brand bought by Starbucks in 2005 for $8 million – was sourcing its water from areas deemed to be in “exceptional drought”.

Starbucks donates 5 cents for every bottle of water sold to the Ethos Water Fund, which is part of the Starbucks foundation. So far, more than $12.3m has been granted to help support water, sanitation and hygiene education programs in water-stressed countries in Africa, Indonesia and Latin America.

Starbucks says its California cafes have cut their water use by 26% since 2008.

The business described its latest move as being part of its “mission to be a globally responsible company”.

The LA Times had something else to say about it.

“[This is] an example of how a corporation seems to be doing something to solve a problem, without really accomplishing much at all,” it said in an editorial this week.

“The bottling of water isn’t a major factor in the drought,” it continued. “Bottled water sales nationwide come to about 10 billion gallons per year; California's statewide water usage is 38 billion gallons per day.

“Starbucks' action will increase the environmental footprint of its water sales, since Ethos will have to ship water to its western locations all the way from far-off Pennsylvania instead of nearby Merced.”